Beneath the Surface
by sss979
Summary: (8th Doctor) The Doctor and Charley are slowly breaking out of their respective shells, and into the safety of each other's confidence. Immediately follows BF: Other Lives.


**The Doctor and Charley are slowly breaking out of their respective shells, and into the safety of each other's confidence. Immediately follows BF: **_**Other Lives**_**.**

**Beneath the Surface**

"Put on a little weight, he says!"

The Doctor smirked as he watched Charley out of the corner of his eye, setting the coordinates for anywhere but here - anywhere safe and out of the way, at least - until they could regroup and decide on their next destination. She glared at him, her exaggerated pout making the line between irritability and genuine anger clear. She was hardly offended by his earlier line of questioning about her "extra padding". But indignant? Absolutely.

She pouted even more as she caught him smiling. Then she turned away, heading for the steps and, ultimately, her room. "Come and help me get this off before I roast to death in all of these layers."

"Sure you wouldn't rather take it off yourself?"

The Doctor smiled at the rare show of initiative from C'Rizz, getting in on the opportunity to rib her.

"It might be rather embarrassing, depending on just how much weight you've put on."

Her glare could've melted a glacier. Or maybe one of the frozen moons of Weri.

"Oh, _you're _one to talk!" she cried as C'Rizz grinned. "Given the choice of costume, I think I'd take these clothes over that... _thing _you were wearing in the sideshow."

Amused, the Doctor raised a brow. "Sideshow?"

He wouldn't have thought it possible to see a Eutermesan blush. But he would've been wrong.

"Never mind," C'Rizz answered hastily, turning away to avoid the Doctor's curiosity.

Charley grinned at her victory, then shot a look at the Doctor as she reached back and tried in vain to unbutton the dress, loosen the corset, _anything _that might make her a bit more comfortable. He turned his attention to the controls as the time rotor whirred to life.

"Seriously, though, Doctor," she said, letting the jesting drop from her tone. "I've got about ten layers of Victorian-era petticoats and corsets on - layered one right on top of the other - and I can hardly breathe. I couldn't get them off by myself if I wanted to do."

"_If _you wanted?" he grinned as he passed her, keeping his voice down. C'Rizz was hunting for the notebook he'd been working on filling with whatever creative ramblings crossed his mind before their stop at the Great Exhibition. But he was likely still listening.

"Doctor..." Charley turned and leaned back on the console, arms across, fixing him in her pouty, mock glare. "I've run halfway around London, slept in the gutter, been solicited by a man who thought I was a prostitute, and spent the last day and a half masquerading as an overweight Frenchwoman, hoping no one actually tried to hold a conversation with me in French, all while you've been off gallivanting and doing God-knows-what. The _least_ you could do is help me out of these clothes."

"Well, I'll admit, my adventure wasn't as exciting as all that," the Doctor answered comfortably. "But I think, all things considered, it sounds like C'Rizz had the worst of it. Tell me about this sideshow."

He craned his neck to look around the time rotor at C'Rizz. But he'd found his notebook and already plopped down on the sofa near the wall of books. He didn't bother looking up. "Oh, I don't think so," he said dismissively. "Besides, I'm sure the story will be much more interesting as Charley tells it."

The Doctor grinned at his deflection, but he felt no need to pry. He was sure he'd hear all about it sooner or later. In the meantime, Charley was halfway up the steps, toward the door that led to the halls and rooms of the Tardis. The Doctor hesitated for long enough to exchange quick glances - a slight smirk from the Eutermesan to say all was well and no offense had been taken - then headed after Charley.

"So someone actually thought you were a prostitute?" he asked smugly as he caught up with her at the doorway to her room. "I don't think that's happened since Malebolgia."

"Yes, and it wasn't very funny then, either."

He smiled knowingly.

"Oh, Doctor, it was horrible," she lamented, genuinely this time. "I actually thought the man was just being nice."

His smile dropped. "What happened?"

He followed her inside the room, closing the door behind them. She turned her back to him and lifted her hair off of her neck to allow him access to the buttons down the back of her dress.

"Well, he took me to dinner, and then for drinks. It was all very nice, and he was pleasant enough. But then when I tried to get his address, to send him repayment later because I didn't have any money with me, he actually propositioned me!"

"Well, on the bright side, at least he didn't think you were cheap."

"Oh, thanks a lot!"

The Doctor smiled again, helping her out of the top, easily removed, layer. "Dinner and drinks - I think that's more than most working girls are offered in any time period on Earth."

"Working girls?" She laughed at the polite expression as he went to work on the tight laces of the corset wrapped around layers and layers of padding underneath.

"Oldest profession in the universe," he answered. "On some planets, it's quite respectable."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Is it working?"

"No."

He laughed, and finished with the laces, then pulled the bones of the contraption apart. Underneath a few layers of padding, he could swear he felt another one, and he marveled. What was the point of that? To keep the padding in perfect form, maybe? No wonder she had hardly been able to move.

"Goodness, Charley, how did you breathe in all this?" he asked as he reached inside the layers and unthreaded the second corset.

"Not very well."

"No doubt. Arms up."

Between the two of them, they were able to maneuver around the loosened layers until she could wriggle her way out. She ended up on the floor, crawling out from underneath as he dropped the heavy pile unceremoniously on the floor beside her.

"Oh, that's _much _better!" Charley exclaimed, rising to her feet and shaking her arms out. She took in a deep, cleansing breath and smiled. In her familiar, comfortable camisole and tap pants, she bent and stretched and moved, enjoying her freedom. "Doctor?"

"Yes, Charley?"

"Might we go somewhere a bit less... cumbersome next?"

He smiled as he stepped up behind her, circling his arms around her waist in an embrace that was both modest and intimate. His hands didn't wander as he kissed her jaw, just below her ear. "I don't see why not. But first... I think you need a shower."

"Oh, thank you," she answered dryly. "I'm sure that it's a form of flattery on some planet, somewhere to tell people that they stink."

He smiled, hugging her a bit tighter. "It wasn't an attempt at flattery; it was an invitation."

"Invitation?"

"I might not have had quite the adventure you did, but I could definitely do with a hot shower. Or a bath. Either way, you're welcome to join me."

She paused, putting the pieces together, and turned to glance at him. "What about C'Rizz?"

"What about him?"

"Won't he...? I mean, he'll be expecting you back."

The Doctor chuckled. "Charley, I would be very surprised if C'Rizz doesn't already know exactly what was on both our minds when you asked me to help take your clothes off."

She blushed slightly. "Well I, for one, was thinking that even a contortionist would have a great deal of trouble getting out of that boned corset while tied up inside of it."

"And that's _all _you were thinking?"

She hesitated a moment a slow smile crept across her lips. "Well, alright," she admitted sheepishly. "Maybe that wasn't _all_..."

*X*X*X*

He left to get towels while she stripped off the remainder of her clothes and dropped them on the tile floor. In a way, she was glad he wasn't watching her. She'd never been terribly self-conscious, but always modest. The way his eyes lingered on her - never lecherous, really, but with clear interest - still had a tendency to unnerve her in spite of her best efforts. In spite of the fact that that this man - this Time Lord, her best friend - had not only seen her naked at least a dozen times now, but knew her body intimately. He had kissed and touched her in ways she'd scarcely dared to think about before she'd experienced them. And not only had he done it, he would do it again. And again... and again...

At least, she hoped he would.

Her thoughts wandered as she stepped into the still-warming spray. She had been a bit apprehensive about the shower, at first. It wasn't a completely foreign concept; there were showers in existence in her time, of course. But she'd never used one. She'd never particularly wanted to do. After all, there was something very relaxing about a bath that was lost when standing under a spray of water. But in the time she'd spent on the Tardis, she had come to appreciate the benefits of both. The shower reminded her of a warm summer rain, relaxing and soothing and safe. And a shower with the Doctor...

It was one of the dreams she'd had for longer than she cared to admit - one of the dreams that woke her from a dead sleep, too early, sweaty and restless, and unfulfilled. Ever since she'd let her curiosity wander over the fact that the stall was easily big enough for two. Ever since the first time she'd caught herself wondering, envisioning even... Oh, so long ago... Funny how the fantasies didn't stop now that she'd tasted his kiss, now that she'd experienced his touch. If anything, they were so much stronger...

She lifted her face to the stream and gave her cheeks a quick scrub, then turned and leaned against the cool tile wall, letting the water spill over her, easing away her thoughts. In a way, the patter of warm water on her skin was almost hypnotic. Certainly comfortable. The adventure was over - at least for the moment. It was time to rest.

She shivered as a draft slid around the partitioned wall, past the curtain and into the stall. The Doctor was humming as he stepped back into the room, relaxed and confident. She smiled almost involuntarily as she listened to him. Never too eager, but never disinterested, either. She bit her lip as she felt the heat in her cheeks. Just now, she was plenty eager for both of them...

She opened her eyes as the curtain rustled. And then he was with her, behind her, his cool hands cradling her waist, his mouth lightly brushing her jaw. "I think I want to take you to the Diamond Falls of Jasper," he muttered, his kisses alternating between soft and firm. "It's beautiful; you'll love it."

Her thoughts were scattered. It was all she could do to make sense of his words in spite of his kisses, in spite of his gentle touch, in spite of the heated water on her even more heated skin. She turned to face him and trailed her hands lightly up his arms, all the way to his shoulders, gliding smoothly over wet skin.

"Sounds nice," she managed.

"It's beautiful. Especially at sunset. The way the colors glisten off the water and the gemstones..."

Smiling to herself at his distracted enjoyment, she grabbed his washcloth and the bar of soap, smiling as she inhaled the scent that had been on his skin for as long as she could remember. When he moved to take them from her, she pulled them close to her chest, away from him. He raised a brow questioningly.

"Well, if we're going to shower together, we might as well do it right."

"Oh?" She could hear the curiosity in his voice.

"I wash your back you wash mine?"

He eyed her for a minute, smiling, before he finally nodded. "Alright, Miss Pollard. Be my guest."

He shifted slightly, out of the direct path of the spray, and she soaped the towel. She could feel his eyes on her as she ran it lightly over his shoulders and around the back of his neck.

"So you know where I was," she said curiously, watching her hands. "And C'Rizz, more or less. Where were you, anyway?"

He told her. He explained about the arrest and the night in prison, the mistaken identity and the unkind uncle. She listened with interest as she massaged his shoulders, slowly working her hands down his arms. His eyes were closed, a tiny smile playing around the corners of his mouth whenever he paused in his retelling. Still listening with interest, she smiled at the way his voice faltered whenever she raked her nails lightly over his skin. He actually gasped as she brushed over his nipples, and she laughed at the look he gave her - wary and yet so intrigued.

"Well, go on," she teased, smiling up at him as she waited for him to resume.

She gave him her best innocent look as his expression turned more curious. But she stayed very still until he began again.

"So it turns out that if her husband didn't come back in the next few days - or however long it was until a year had passed - she would have to forfeit the house and she and her children would be out on the street..."

She chased the water as it trickled down the planes of his chest, marveling at how his skin warmed in the steam of the shower. His skin was always a bit cooler than hers, but right now, it was hard to tell. Tracing his ribs, she smiled softly as her fingers caressed his scars, paying special, careful attention to the deep one between his hearts. She wondered if every body he took ended up this scarred in the end...

His hands rested on her shoulders as she worked slowly down his torso. It was a perfect opportunity to explore him openly, without the awkwardness of being watched, or feeling like her exploration was the focus of his attention. He was caught up in his story, rambling happily, and she smiled at the sound of his voice over the hiss of the shower spray.

As she finally glanced down, allowing herself to take a good look at him, she felt an odd thrill run through her. In spite of his conversation - well, one-sided conversation - he was very much aware of her attentions. His body was responding, and it once again reminded her of just how surreal this was. Naked and comfortable, standing in a shower in the bright light, with a man who was human in every way on the outside... and so very different in any other way. A Time Lord. The Doctor. Her best friend...

"Charley?"

Her head snapped up as she realized he'd stopped talking; she wasn't sure how long ago. There was a smile on his lips, his eyes dancing even as he searched her.

"Are you alright?"

"Oh." She felt her cheeks warm. "Yes, of course."

He chuckled quietly, under his breath, smiling at her in a way that made liquid heat pool in her womb. "Are you sure?" He was teasing her in that low, bedroom voice. Even if she hadn't been able to hear it in his voice, it was written in the way he cupped her chin, fingers smoothing lightly over her jaw. "Is the water too warm?"

She opened her mouth to answer, realized it was a rhetorical question - a tease - and lowered her eyes with a smile. "You know what, Doctor? I've just realized something strange."

"Have you? What?"

"In all my life, I've never thought of myself as shy."

"And now you are?"

"No," she said defiantly, looking up at him again. "But..."

"But?"

She hesitated, unsure of her words. "I don't know if I feel so much shy as... well... out of my depth."

"Why?" His teasing tone was gone, replaced by one of concern. "Have I made you uncomfortable somehow?"

She laughed quietly as she shook her head. "No, Doctor. No, not at all. And it's not uncomfortable, it's just..." She frowned as she searched his eyes, as if she might find the word written there if she just stared hard enough. When it came, it was out of her mouth before she could really consider it. "Stripping."

"Stripping?" he asked curiously. "What an odd choice of words; why 'stripping'?"

She lowered her eyes, keeping her smile in place. It was her shield, her only defense against the vulnerability she felt right now. Not that she _needed _a defense...

"There's not much to hide behind, when I'm with you," she whispered.

"Why would you want to hide?"

"Well, I don't, really..."

"You know you can tell me anything, Charley."

His hand on her neck, caressing her softly, made her smile as she leaned instinctively into him. "It's not just that, Doctor."

"Then what?"

She hesitated for just a moment. "I'm still not used to this."

"That's not a bad thing. When you get used to things, they have a tendency to become mundane, boring."

"With you? I don't think you're capable of mundane and boring, Doctor."

"Well, I try not to be."

He was smiling as he tipped her chin up, drawing her eyes to his. For a long moment, he studied her before he finally stroked his thumb over her lips. It was an oddly comforting gesture.

"Charley, what's bothering you?" he asked, still concerned.

"You mean you're not going to just read my mind?" she teased, trying to lighten the mood.

"Do you want me to?"

"No." She frowned. "Wait, could you?"

"Charley..."

"Right. Okay." She took a deep breath. Enough stalling. "Every time I'm with you like this, every time my mind wanders when I see you... ready. I hear, in my mind, everything I was ever taught about what this should be like."

She paused, casting a hooded glance up at him, just long enough to read his expression of calm curiosity before pushing forward.

"I mean, I've read my share of romance. I don't think of sex itself as being dirty or wrong. But the things we do... Mother would have called it unnatural. No proper girl would ever allow herself to _think_ about that, let alone... want."

"If you think we should stop..."

"No!" she answered quickly, then shook her head. "No, Doctor, the thing is... I do. I do want you. Everything you've done - _we've _done - has felt so right. I wouldn't change a thing, really. But I can't help remembering my mother telling me that someday I, too, would have to lie back and think of England so that I could fulfill my duty to my husband. And I remember how I felt the first time I read about a girl who wasn't content with that; who really _enjoyed_ this. And I thought how lucky she was, and how I wanted to be like her... And then I felt so dirty for having had that thought at all."

Keeping her head down, she raised just her eyes to peer at him curiously.

"The thing is, I don't care what my mother would think. I'll probably never even see her again. But I guess... It's still there, Doctor. The thought, the feeling, it still comes. And I just... I don't want it to stop - really, I don't. But it's so much different from everything I was taught... sometimes I just don't know what to think. So it's not... shy, really. Just... uncertain."

He let the silence linger between them, overshadowed by the hiss of the water from the spray overhead. Finally, his expression still entirely passive, he took the washcloth from her hand and rinsed it in the water behind him before winding it around the soap again.

"I don't suppose you've given much thought to what _my _people think of a relationship like ours? Turn around."

She complied without thought, and took a moment to consider his question as he moved her wet hair off of the back of her neck, starting there and slowly working down, over her shoulder blades.

"Well, you did say they wouldn't approve," she finally answered.

"No, they certainly wouldn't."

"But isn't that simply because I'm... well... human?"

"Well, that certainly gives them _more _reason to disapprove, but it's not the only reason."

His hands smoothed over her skin, massaging away the tightness in her muscles as he slowly moved down, along her spine. He was piecing together a story in the lingering silence that followed - working through an explanation. She listened with interest as he finally began.

"A few hundred million years ago, in the days of Rassilon, there was a... disagreement. The Pythia - psychic leaders of a very powerful cult on Gallifrey - cursed the planet with sterility. How they did it isn't really important, or even why. I certainly have some theories and some ancient mystical curse is pretty low on my list of probabilities. But the point is, my people haven't had a biological imperative for sex in a very long time."

"So Time Lords are... sterile?" Charley asked, confused.

"Supposed to be, yes."

"But how do you... well, keep the species going?"

"Rassilon developed a loom to weave DNA strands together. The genetic makeup of a mother and father - or sometimes just one or the other - is recombined into a new child, about seven years old by Earth standards when he steps out of the loom. He's implanted with the inherited memories of the Time Lords and has about a year to learn language, adjust to life, become ready to learn. Then he enters the Academy."

Fascinated, Charley looked over her shoulder at him. "So your people are created in... a machine?"

"Yes. All of the people outside of the Citadel, beyond the reach of Rassilon and the looms, were also affected by the curse. They died out in one generation. Evolution took its toll among those remaining, over a few million years, and the Time Lords became an asexual species."

"Asexual," she repeated.

"After a few million years, most Time Lords had less interest in sex than in eating grass. Once it wasn't necessary, it fell out of evolutionary favor even as a form of recreation. We had other ways and methods of intimacy; physical contact was... unnecessary."

She frowned. "But before, when you said 'accidents happen'..."

"I wasn't created on a loom."

She turned to face him, a bit taken aback by the bold truth.

"I was born. Two Gallifreyan parents, but conceived off-world, where the curse didn't affect them. It was the planet that was cursed, technically; not the people."

"But if evolution had already removed the instincts... Why?"

He sighed. "I don't know the details, Charley; I never wanted to know. Anyway, my point is..." He set the washcloth and soap aside and focused his attention on her. "You were raised to think of sex as a duty, or a sin... I was raised to think of it as something that only animals and base creatures do. Something that we as Time Lords should be far above."

"And are you?" The words were out before she could stop them. Her frown deepened as she searched him. "The evolution of your people... that affects you, too. You're not doing this just for me..."

He cupped her cheek with one hand, and with the other, laced his fingers with hers. "No," he reassured her gently. "Don't ever think that, Charley."

There was nothing but sincerity in his eyes, in his voice. She forced a smile as she nodded slightly, and relaxed into him as his arms circled her, hugging her close to him.

"Doctor?"

"Yes, Charley?"

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Forget what you were taught?" She withdrew just enough to look up at him curiously. "I mean, thinking of this as being an animal mating ritual, that's almost as awkward - well, alright, maybe even _more _awkward - than what I feel when I think about..."

She trailed off, and he smiled knowingly. "About what?"

She swallowed, and licked her lips to bring back moisture to her mouth as she looked back up at him with boldness. "About all the things I'd like to do to you."

His smile broadened, eyes darkened, and she felt that tingling in her womb again as his fingertips ran lightly up her side. "Things like what?"

The thoughts came instantly to her mind, and she felt the heat wind around her, twisting her insides tighter and tighter as she shifted her weight - one foot and then the other. She wanted to tell him; she knew she could trust him. But she simply didn't have words. She'd never thought of how she would put her deepest, darkest fantasies - the kind that good girls never had and _certainly _never admitted to - into words.

He stepped closer again, pressing his body flush against hers as he slid his hands up and down her back slowly, exploring. Her breath caught as he pressed his lips to her ear. "Do you want to hear mine?"

"Yours?"

"My deepest fantasies... The kind that good Time Lords never have and certainly never admit to."

She blinked. "Wait, are you reading my -"

"I want to hold you down, Charley."

Her breath caught, thoughts scattering as the image flashed across her mind.

"Face down on my bed," he whispered, "pressed against your back, feeling every breath you take."

"Doctor?"

"Shh, Charley, just listen."

She swallowed as his hands moved possessively over her. He leaned in, and she could feel his smile as he continued in his lowest, darkest voice, purring in her ear. "I want to tease you, take you, make you scream for me. I want to spread you wide open and kiss and taste all of your most secret places."

She gasped as he pushed her back - gently but firmly - against the cool, tile wall behind her. He found her hands, lacing his fingers with hers as he stepped in close and raised them, pinning them to the wall above her head.

"I want to press you up against the pillar in the console room of the Tardis."

Her eyes widened, but he didn't stop, his low voice thick with desire.

"Buried deep inside of you, your legs tight around my waist, pulling me harder, closer to you, and I want to feel..." He dropped his head, moaning into her neck. "Oh, Charley, I want to feel the passage of a million years as we fly through the vortex, our bodies locked together as one. Every thrust, every clench of you around me driving us both harder, faster, closer to release. You can't imagine how that would feel, Charley... Every sense on fire and _alive _and consumed by sheer pleasure. The smell and taste of you... sensing the passage of every burning, beautiful second, buried to the hilt inside of your warm body for a million years or more..."

"Doctor..."

She was breathless, knees weak and threatening to give out. He let go of her, moving his hands to her waist to steady her as he looked up again, catching her gaze. His eyes were deep and piercing as he continued in that low murmur that made her insides wind tightly, and the space between her legs feel so empty.

"I want to make love in the warm rains of Moriar," he murmured, moving one finger along the crease of her thigh, down... down... achingly close to the place where she very suddenly wanted his touch the way she wanted air. "The cool mountains of Crescefrax, the ocean beaches of Earth. I want to take you to places you've never imagined and see all the wonder in your eyes and feel... everything. Just like it's the first time all over again."

She moaned as his fingers finally reached her heat and slipped inside smoothly. Her eyes rolled back. But she said nothing. She only wanted to listen, to let her mind play over the pictures he was painting. He brushed her lips with his, gently pulling, teasing, caressing as he continued.

"I want to _own _you, Charley, every part of you. And I want to protect you. I want to feel inside your mind when you come. I want to know what the most intimate pleasures feel like for you. And I want to smell your pheromones, your sex, in a room full of strangers, and know, just with a look, that you want me."

"Oh, my God..."

"I want to run," he growled, moving his mouth back to her ear. "I want to face death and feel the adrenaline of escape coursing through my veins and right there, Charley, right in the middle of it all I want to take it out on you - fast and hard and intense, like it's the very last thing we'll ever do. Like it's the only thing that even matters. Come death and welcome; we've willed it so."

With a moan, she arched her back, pressing down harder on his hand, on his expert, stroking fingers. Her pulse fluttered rapidly in her throat, every labored breath echoing in the confined space as he ground the heel of his palm into her most sensitive nerves. She tightened, and he purred, raking his teeth over her earlobe, just shy of painful.

"I want to push you further than you ever thought you could go, Charley," he growled, nipping and teasing along her jaw, following the rush of her blood as it called to him. "I want to break down the walls, the boundaries, what's right and proper and responsible, and just do everything that feels good. _Freedom_, Charley! Freedom to feel and to be and to face no judgment. Freedom like you've never tasted before - like I haven't. I want to take you to a planet where we're invisible to the indigenous species and fuck you right in the middle of the town square, Charley, you have no _idea _the fun we could have... The things I want to do to you..."

Her brain overloaded as he plunged his fingers deeper, and she keened, calling for him with breathless cries. He latched onto her shoulder with his teeth, pressed her harder against the smooth surface of the wall as the fire crawled through her, consuming her until all she could do was writhe in his arms, clutching at him. Her fingernails split his pale skin where she grasped his shoulders, leaving small, red, half moons as proof of her release.

Dizzy and disoriented, she felt all the muscles in her body turn to jelly at once, and she was glad for the support of the wall, and for his weight pressed against her. She couldn't think; her world was pure, blissful white. It wasn't until he turned the shower head toward them - to wash off the sticky substance on her hip that she realized wasn't water - that she even remembered where she was.

"Oh, Doctor..."

"Shh..."

He turned the water off and slid to the floor of the shower, pulling her with him, onto his lap. She had never been happier to let herself be led. Lying against him, she rested her head on his shoulder and smiled as she slowly came back to herself. Residual energy still pulsed inside of her at uneven intervals as her mind played back over all of his words, all of the images they brought to mind, and she snuggled closer to him, kissing the water from his collarbone.

"Doctor?"

"Hmm?"

The lack of articulation made her smile, but she didn't answer right away. She waited until he turned his head to look at her, and she lifted her head to nuzzle him gently. Their lips brushed lightly, several times before they finally kissed, slow and intimate, sharing in the mutual pleasure of being wrapped up in post-orgasmic bliss. As she finally withdrew, she raised one hand into his hair, holding him gently.

"I love you," she whispered.

He smiled. "I love you too, Charley."

"And you're right. I can't imagine half of what you might be able to think of for... intimate encounters."

He smiled knowingly. "I should think you'd be better equipped than I am to think of them. Fantasizing is built into your species; every human I've ever known does it in some form, without even thinking. I've had to learn."

"Well, you've learned well." She slid her hand around, tracing his lips lightly with her fingertips. "And whatever you can think of..."

He laughed softly as her smile darkened, voicing her consent without words. He pushed her hair back from her face and kissed her fingers before tipping her head and kissing her forehead. "I'll keep it in mind, Charley. I'm sure I've only just scratched the surface."


End file.
